Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) are property of 'Saban', who are in some strange way related to Disney, who run the show on ABC. No infringement is intended.
ROARING ON THE WIND
By Etcetera Kit
Chapter Thirteen: Giving In Can't Be Wrong
The alarm chimes were going off. Tommy raced down the stairs to the lab two at a time and pulled up the surveillance screens on the computer. A monster was attacking the city—luckily enough for them it was normal-sized and not ten stories tall. Billy was down there in an instant with Adam at his heels. The genius kicked away the parts of the unfinished teleportation system and studied the monster.
"Looks like your normal, run-of-the-mill monster," Billy commented.
"We'd better get everyone here," Adam added unnecessarily.
Tommy punched a few keys on the computer and soon he had communication links up with Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent and Kimberly. "Guys, we've got trouble," he said into the microphone on the desk of the computer.
"Another monster?" Trent asked over the line.
"Trouble is my middle name!" Conner proclaimed.
"Get to the lab!" Tommy ordered them.
Adam was rolling his eyes at Conner's statement. "He's trouble all right," the soccer coach muttered. "Although I'm not entirely sure that it's a good kind of trouble."
Billy looked at his watch. "When this is over, I'm going to work full-time on that teleportation grid. It's ridiculous that we have to wait for everyone to drive here."
Tommy listened to the pounding upstairs for a moment. "There's enough people upstairs to send an army if we needed to."
"But how many of them can still morph?" Adam asked.
"More than you'd think," Tommy muttered. He watched the surveillance screen where the monster was terrorizing people. The civilians were running for cover and the monster seemed to be doing nothing more than making a mess. It wasn't targeting civilians like most of the previous monsters had. This was strange. Was Mesogog trying to draw them out for whatever reason that demented reptile had?
A few minutes later, they heard the front door bang open and the thundering footsteps down to the lab. Conner appeared, followed by the other teen rangers. "We're here!" he said loudly before running over the screens and studying the monster.
"Looks typical enough," Ethan said with a shrug.
Conner turned to Billy. "Dude, you really need to get that teleportation system done!" Billy gave him an acid glare. Conner gulped. "Sorry," he apologized quickly. "I forgot about the 'dude' thing."
Kimberly burst into the lab. "What's going on?"
Tommy took a quick inventory of the Dino Thunder rangers—all eight of them were present and accounted for in the lab. The former red rangers, Kendrix and Ashley were all either upstairs or still at the hospital. Hayley was still at the café. Tommy gave Trent a meaningful look. He caught it and nodded.
"Hayley will be here when once she closes up," he said.
He looked at the monster on the screen, and then he glanced at the corner of the screen. Elsa was standing there. Great, just what they needed, a deformed monster and a crazed cyborg all in one night. He glanced at Billy.
"Where are Mary Anne and Susie?" he asked.
Billy frowned. "Upstairs with Cole, why?"
Tommy looked at all of them. He turned to Conner, Ethan, Kira and Trent. "You guys go up and see what that monster wants." He looked to Kimberly and Adam. "You guys go with them. They might need your zords if that thing grows."
The six of them nodded. There was a loud cry of 'Dino thunder, power up!' or variations thereof and they appeared morphed. They left the lab via the raptor-cycles with Kimberly and Adam borrowing the yellow and blue Raptor-Riders. He and Billy exchanged a glance.
"Are we dealing with the crazy lady out there?" Billy asked mildly.
"Yes," Tommy replied. "And anyone here is standing guard."
Billy nodded and they sprinted up the stairs two at a time. Mary Anne was typing away quickly at her laptop and Susie was playing a travel-sized version of Candy Land with Cole. The Wild Force ranger looked up at their noisy entrance. "Cole," Billy said. "Make sure Mary Anne and Susie stay safe. Don't leave the house."
"Where're you going?" Susie asked.
Wes came in from the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asked. "Everyone else is on the back porch. What do we need to do?"
"Keep the lab and gem safe," Tommy instructed.
"Daddy!" Susie wailed after Billy as they ran back down to the lab.
"I'll be back soon!" he called up to her. He and Tommy exchanged another glance.
"Ready?" Tommy asked.
Billy nodded, pulling in ragged breaths.
"Dino thunder, power up!"
And they were off on the black raptor-cycle and Raptor-Rider to face Elsa.
Conner McKnight could not understand two things about this monster. First, it was just running around creating chaos, but not doing any actual damage. Second, it was attacking at night. Mesogog almost never had monsters attack at night. Well, the last one had but that was a recent trend. Most of the time the monsters attacked during the day, when there were more people out to terrorize. That would make the most sense for Mesogog's overall plot—attack during the day and get rid of the most humans. But this was mind-boggling.
He pulled his raptor-cycle to a halt near where the monster was—in the middle of the patio of a ritzy restaurant. There didn't appear to be any people there anymore. Mostly, the monster had knocked over tables and chairs, creating a mess from the plates, food and other things on the tables. The thing was just jumping up and down in the middle of the mess it had made. Confusion ripped across his mind. What was going on?
He got off his raptor-cycle and the others dismounted from their cycles and riders. He didn't really like going places without Doctor O. When Doctor O wasn't here, then the others tended to assume that since he was the Red Ranger, he was the leader. He hated being the leader—it made him feel like if he made a mistake, something horrible would happen. That probably wasn't true, but it remained a personal paranoia of his. He glanced back to make sure he still had everyone, especially the flashes of pink and orange. This was their first time to fight with the older Dino Thunder Rangers… but then, everyone who had received the newest Dino-Gems had been rangers before. Maybe that was the gems way of putting more experience on the team.
"Just who I was looking for!" the monster squealed.
"Oh, you found us," Conner muttered.
The monster giggled inanely. "What is it?" Ethan asked. "A cheerleader on steroids?"
Conner called his Tyranno-Staff out of his belt. "Let's not let it sick around to find out," he said in the general direction of Ethan.
He turned slightly to see that everyone else had called out their weapons as well. Kim had an ax—it was kind of funny looking with its swirl of pink and white… almost like those Starburst candy canes they sold at Christmas. However, the thing looked deadly enough. Adam had a quiver full of arrows and a bow. Now that looked more normal—it was just orange, brighter than a shade of leather one would expect. He glanced at his own weapon… he could sympathize with Kim on the candy cane thing.
Letting loose a battle cry that rivaled any of the old black and white, Cowboys and Indians movie, Conner charged at the monster, the others falling into defensive formations behind him. He hit the thing square across the chest with his staff. The monster took an unsteady swing at him in retaliation and he rolled to the side to avoid it. Kim and Kira took up the attack, both hitting the monster, sending sparks flying. The monster threw them both off as Ethan and Trent charged.
Adam had taken refuge behind one of the overturned tables and was fitting an arrow to the bow. Conner watched quickly as everyone had been thrown away from the monster and Adam quickly let loose an arrow. The arrow lodged right into the monster's heart and the thing began to stagger backwards.
"Z-Rex Blaster!" Conner yelled to Ethan and Kira.
Immediately, the Blue and Yellow Rangers were beside him and placing their weapons with the Tyranno-Staff to form their blaster.
"Fire!" they yelled in unison.
The monster let out an agonizing screech and then fell before them in bits of what looked like charred rubber. It smelt almost like charred rubber too. Almost immediately, a stream of rain came down and the monster began to form back together—one ten stories high this time.
"Not again," Conner groaned.
"This happen often?" Adam asked, as he vanished his bow and quiver.
"All the time," Kira assured him.
They all vanished their weapons just as Hayley's voice came over their communicators. "Brachio is on his way with the zords," she told them.
"All right!" Conner cried, watching as the huge carrier zord came down the street, grinding to a halt. The Tyranno, Tricera and Ptero-Zords jumped out of the Brachio-Zord and raced down the street to them. Conner jumped up and was transported into his zord as he knew that Ethan and Kira were. He placed his hands on the controls to log in. "Combine powers!" he commanded.
In a few seconds, the Mega-Zord was completely formed and Kira and Ethan were in the main control room with him.
"Let's get rid of this, bozo!" Ethan yelled. "Tricera fist!"
Conner froze as the command that usually worked unless it was deflected by the monster, didn't. The arm of the Mega-Zord that was made up of the Tricera-Zord didn't move. Conner tapped his controls, trying to override whatever lock might be on it.
"Hayley!" he called. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," came her voice. "Try one of the other arm zords."
"Ankylo-Zord," they heard Adam cry and in a few moments, the Tricera-Zord was running back to Brachio and the Ankylo-Zord was in place. Conner tried a few commands but nothing was working.
"Hayley," Kira yelled. "We could use some answers!"
The monster pulled back a huge fist and hit the Mega-Zord. Conner felt himself thrown from his zord and crashed onto the pavement. Kira and Ethan hit the ground beside. He watched in horror as the zords disassembled and lay on the ground twitching. A roaring started in his ears and he couldn't hear anything as he watched Trent and Kimberly try the Drago-Zord and the Stego-Zord. Both the zords went down as quickly as the Mega-Zord. The monster suddenly held a huge cannon and aimed it at the zords on the ground.
A blast of orange light blinded him for a moment and then his heart constricted. Their zords… that monster had just destroyed their zords. He scrambled to his feet and looked at the charred remains.
"Oh my God," he vaguely heard Kira say.
"Someone had to have tampered with the zords," Ethan cried.
"So what do we do now?" Kira asked.
Conner shook his head. He really didn't know.
Tommy skidded to a halt just in front of where the Mega-Zord was battling the ten story version of the monster. He watched in horror as the zords all disassembled and fell to the ground. The Drago and Stego-Zords went down as well. He and Billy swung around when they heard cold female laughter coming from behind them.
"Aw," Elsa said with an exaggerated look on her face. "Are you two going to cry now that you don't have any zords?"
"How?" Tommy asked, feeling his blood boil. Nothing like this could have happened to the zords unless someone had tampered with them.
"Don't you wish you knew," Elsa said in a sing-song voice. "You Power Ranger are such trusting fools, leaving your layer wide open while one of the washed-up power pukes has her baby? Don't even check your zords… well, say goodbye to them now!" She teleported out of the area with a crack of green light.
"Shit," Tommy swore. "Now what?"
He glanced at Billy. The Green Ranger suddenly called his weapons out of his belt and looked at the dagger that was the flute.
"The Dragon-Zord?" Tommy asked.
Billy shrugged. "Now's the time to find out." He placed the flute to his lips and played the familiar notes that brought the Dragon-Zord out the sea. Nothing seemed to have happened.
"Try it again," Tommy urged.
Billy played the tune again. He glanced to Tommy and then kept repeating it. Suddenly the streets began to shake and a huge Godzilla-like zord appeared lumbering down the street. It roared a friendly greeting in the direction of Billy. Tommy felt his heart catch in his throat as he remembered all the days he had spent with the Dragon-Zord and controlling it. Now the zord was coming back to help the newest generation of rangers. They had thought it might be true—and then never got around to finding out. Now it was true…
"The monster!" Billy directed the zord.
The Dragon-Zord roared and ambled off in the direction of the monster. The monster turned and aimed the cannon at the zord. It just screeched again and knocked the cannon away with its tail.
"Awesome!" he heard Conner yell as the other rangers ran over to join them.
"It's the Dragon-Zord!" Kimberly yelled.
"Missiles!" Billy yelled at the zord. The Dragon-Zord's fingers transformed and little red missiles lined up in the fingers. "Fire!" Billy directed.
The Dragon-Zord fired and the monster staggered backwards, screaming in rage over the indignity of it. Somehow, the thing found its cannon again and blasted the Dragon-Zord square in the chest. The zord fell over and began to struggling to get up. Billy put the flute to his lips and played the tune that revitalized the zord.
Tommy's heart was pounding. This had to work. It was their last chance. Mesogog had just succeeded in destroying all of their zords. The Dragon-Zord had to hang on a little while longer and it would destroy the monster. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath, until the zord got back up and he let out a long breath.
The Dragon-Zord gave a mighty swing with its tail and connected with the monster, causing the monster to fall over and burst into flames. The zord ambled over to them giving another powerful roar. Billy shook his head. The zord roared again.
"They're alive?" Billy asked.
Tommy felt like he was going to have a heart attack. "You can understand what he's saying?" he asked.
Billy shrugged. "Can't you?"
"No."
"He says that the other zords are still alive, but barely. He can put them back in Brachio and get them back to the zord bay. He thinks they were sick before they came out."
"Sick?" Tommy asked. "How?"
"A virus!" Ethan piped up. "Someone probably put a virus on them."
Tommy groaned and looked to Billy. "Elsa said that we hadn't protected the zords when Ashley had her baby. That's probably when she planted the virus." Seething with anger, he turned around and kicked at an overturned table. "Goddammit!" he yelled.
The Dragon-Zord roared. "Get to it quickly!" Billy said. "We'll meet you at the lab." He then hauled Tommy up. "We need to go."
Tommy could not believe their fatal error as he climbed back onto his raptor-cycle and everyone headed back for the lab. There were so many of them there and they had let their guard down. Now they had no zords.
Some time later, Tommy was facing the Dino Thunder rangers in the lab. Nothing had come towards the house or the lab and everyone there was safe, albeit rather alarmed by their hasty exit earlier that evening. He was pacing. He hated pacing. It was an outward sign that he felt defeated and everyone could tell. He heard voices upstairs and he knew that everyone in any way involved with the distress signal and Billy's daughters were present. The only ones not present were Ashley and baby Karone for obvious reasons.
They needed to stay safe through the night. The zords would wait until morning—they had the Dragon-Zord if something came up before then. He didn't know what to do and everyone was looking at him expectantly. The greatest ranger ever… the legendary one… he snorted inwardly. Some leader he was making now. He was the only one to loose it when the zords were, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. The Dragon-Zord, per Billy, claimed that they were still 'alive,' but Tommy wasn't holding his breath. With the zords beyond all use, it was like a part of them had been ripped out. The zords were such an integral part of being a ranger and of doing battle as a ranger. Now theirs were gone…
He gazed at their tired faces. "We need security all around the house," he said slowly.
"We could sleep on the porches," Conner suggested. Ethan gave him an incredulous look and Kira smacked him on the back of the head. "What?" he asked, obviously not understanding the source of their disgust.
"That's not a bad idea…" Tommy replied, trailing off. If they slept on the porches, then the people with the strongest powers would be the ones attacked first and more likely to prevent something from happening to the others. He snapped to attention. "Billy, Kimberly, Kira and Trent," he said, each one looking up as their name was mentioned. "You guys sleep on the back porch. Me, Adam, Conner and Ethan will sleep on the front."
"But what about everyone else?" Trent asked. "Should they be on guard?"
"We can't put their lives in danger!" Kira protested.
"They willing came here to put themselves in danger," Tommy replied, stopping all arguments. "And most of them still have their morphers." He paused. "I want everyone without a morpher to sleep in the lab. It will be safer for them that way."
"Want to tell them that?" Conner suggested as he stood up. "I'll be back. We've got a lot of a sleeping bags and camping equipment at my house we can use."
"I'll go with you," Kira volunteered and the two of them were off.
Tommy left the lab and the remaining Dino Thunder rangers, slowly climbing the stairs to the hallway, leading into the living room. Everyone in the living room looked completely morose, yet ready to jump into action. He took a mental roll call. Everyone was indeed here, including Kendrix who had arrived that morning. He took in a deep breath.
"I want everyone who does not have a morpher to sleep down in the lab tonight." That meant Cole, Hayley, Mary Anne and Susie. Susie had already attached herself to Cole and was sitting in his lap. The four of them began to move in the direction of the lab. He glanced at the remaining people. "Jason, Leo and Kendrix, stay with them." They nodded. That meant they would be working as a kind of bodyguard for the people with no morphers.
He took another deep breath. "Wes and Eric guard the entrance to the lab in the house. Carter and TJ take the entrance underground in the lab." He glanced at the last person he had not given an assignment to—Andros. "Andros, go to the hospital and stay with Ashley." He paused. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to make sure that everyone here stays safe and in one piece." Not mutated into a dino-creature, he said inwardly.
Everyone nodded and slowly began to disperse into the directions they had been sent. Tommy sighed watching the fear and determination dance across each person's eyes. Everyone had their own reasons to be scared—family never to be seen again, dear friends, quiet little houses that provided lots of respite. He watched Kendrix follow Leo down to the lab. He had yet to get the full story on that—Wes was involved which said something. He shook his head. He just hoped that they would survive the night.To Be Continued...
Author's Note: Reviews appeared to have dropped off at the last update. If you guys are in the same boat I'm in, then midterms are smacking you in between the eyes. I completely understand. (This is why I'm several chapters ahead in the actual writing than I have posted.) I just sat through a nasty American Lit midterm today... but enough of that! Thanks for all the reviews! :)